An Air Asia flight from Perth to Bali that was forced to make an emergency landing was plummeting at a rate of 11 metres per second, an investigation has revealed.
Flight QZ535 from Perth International Airport travelling to Denpasar turned back to Western Australia 25 minutes after take-off at 11.20am on October 15.
The plane suddenly dropped 20,000ft, terrifying and panicking the 146 passengers.
A report released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday showed the plane dropped at a rate of 11 metres per second, according to WA Today.
An Air Asia flight from Perth to Bali that was forced to make an emergency landing was plummeting at a rate of 11 metres per second, according to an investigation
The report stated flight crew noticed a pressurisation system fault ‘appear and then disappear’ shortly after take-off.
About 20 minutes later another alert was activated, and the crew attempted to stop the cabin’s pressurisation from increasing.
Before the pilots could fix the issue the caution disappeared.
An altitude warning then appeared about three minutes later, requiring crew to begin an emergency descent.
The warning alerts the crew when cabin altitude is about 9550ft and the plane is above 10,000ft.
An emergency landing at Perth Airport was arranged, and the plane eventually landed safely.
The plane suddenly dropped 20,000ft, terrifying and panicking the 146 passengers
Passengers thought they were going to die during the terrifying ordeal.
‘I actually picked up my phone and sent a text message to my family, just hoping that they would get it,’ Perth woman Leah told Nine News.
‘We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting.’
At the time, Air Asia apologised for inconvenience caused to passengers.
At the time, Air Asia apologised for inconvenience caused to passengers (stock image)